Machine for drying hosiery



1954 H. s. DRUM ET AL MACHINE FOR DRYING HOISERY 2 Sheefs-Sheet 1 FiledJune '7, 1950 ATTORNEYS.

H. S. DRUM ET AL MACHINE F0 Feb. 23, 1954 R DRYING HOISERY 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 7, 1950 ATTORNEYS" Patented Feb. 23, 1954MACHINE FOR DRYING HOSIERY Harry S. Drum, Abington, Hugo F. Liedtke,

Philadelphia, and Joseph Schmitz, Jr., Crestmont Farms, Pa., assignorsto Smith, Drum & Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Application June 7, 1950, Serial No. 166,666

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to material drying apparatus and moreparticularly to a novel machine for drying hosiery.

In the manufacture and handling of hosiery as heretofore practiced,there are two methods in present day use, both of which require two ormore handlings of th stockings and the use of skilled operators.

In the first method the knitted stockings are preset on boardsindividually, removed from the boards and put into bundles of twelve andwrapped in muslin, after which a number of these bundles are put into abag. These bags are now placed in a dyeing machine where they are dyedand a finish applied. When this operation is completed, they are removedfrom the dyeing machine and transferred to a mechanical extractor forextraction of excess liquid. Following this operation, the stockings areremoved from the bags, the muslin wrapping taken off so that eachstocking can be pulled onto a heated hosiery form for drying andre-shaping. In some hosiery plants the bundling and wrapping in muslinis dispensed with and the stockings drop into the dye bag in loose form.

In the second method, known as the Dunn" system, the stockings are hungin a conditioning chamber where they are exposed to steam to producewhat is called a pro-setting. After removal from this cabinet thestockings are then prepared for dyeing in either of the two ways of thefirst method, after which the finished boarding operation is carried outon the same piece of apparatus as is used for pre-boarding referred toin the first method.

. Both of these methods have certain disadvantages which have plaguedmanufacturers since the introduction of nylon and synthetic fibres.These relatively new fibres produce a very sheer fabric which is veryeasily damaged by handling. Thus, in the first method described, thereare two individual handlings, and in the second method there is thehandling preparing for the re-setting operation and the finish boardingoperation. Both of these operations must be carried out by skilledoperators, and when the stockings are pulled on forms there is alwaysthe chance for variation in length due to one operator pulling thestocking down with greater force than another operator. Furthermore, ineither of the foregoing methods constant supervision and labor arerequired because some of the finishing compound adheres to the forms onwhich the stocking is finish boarded. This requires the forms to becleaned on an average of once every two or three hours because otherwisethe crystalline nature of the finish as it bakes on the forms willcausedamage to the inside of the stocking.

Some of the objects of the present invention are: to provide an improvedmachine for drying hosiery; to provide a hosiery drying machine in whichth stockings in quantity or in bundle form are handled on a continuousbasis; to provide a hosiery drying machine wherein means operate todirect the greater portion of the drying medium to the foot, hem, welt,or areas of greatest concentration of the fabric; to provide a hosierydrying machine comprising a cabinet or closed housing having a dryingsource therein and a conveyor traversing the cabinet for carrying aquantity of stockings into the path of the drying medium; to provide ahosiery drying machine which can be successfully operated by unskilledheld instead of skilled help; to provide a hosiery machine whicheliminates the pulling of stockings on individual forms, so that nodrying forms are required and consequently the usual cleaning of suchforms to get rid of finishing compounds is no longer necessary; toprovide a hosiery drying machine in the operation of which skilledsupervision of the workers is no longer required; to provide a hosierymachine which operates with less finishing compound than is necessary inpresent day machines; to provide a hosiery machine which reduces thedamage ordinarily done to hosiery by the number of handlings; to providea novel method of drying hosiery in stacked or bundled form; and toprovide other objects as will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side elevation brokenaway of a hosiery dryer embodying one form of the present invention;Fig. 2 represents a vertical medial section of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 representsa section of line 33- of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 represents a section on line 4-4of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, one form of hosiery drying apparatusembodying the invention is shown wherein bundles or quantities ofunboarded preset hosiery are placed upon areticulated conveyor l0 inorder to travel through a transverse passage ll formed by a casing l2and leading from the receiving side of the machine to the delivery side.Preferably, the width of the conveyor Ill and the passage H is such asto allow the hosiery to lie in flat extended position with the stockingwelts at one side of the passage and the feet at the opposite side. Theconveyor H3 projects from the ends of the casing 12 to travel arounddriving and driven pulleys l3 and i l, or the like, which are solaterally spaced with respect to the machine as to provide extensionsrespectively for loading and unloading purposes. As shown, the bottom ofthe casing I2 terminates at opposite ends respectively in areaatediverging ducts I5 and 15, which seat on the top of a suitable supportsuch as the skeleton base [7. While as heretofore described the width ofthe passagell is such that the stockings lie flat transverse of theconveyor, the length of the passage Iil isgreatersthangits; width and,sovv dimensioned as to ensure most effective drying action during thetravel of the stockings through the passage 1!.

and 2| communicating respectively with the aforesaid two ducts l5 andIt, while the top of the casing I2 is formed with two lengthwisearranged inlets 22 and 23, which are alined respec- Forheating air andcirculating it through the bundleof stockings, tWo heating coils 24 and2 5aremounted respectively above the two casing inlets 2'2 and 23, andhoused transversely: re-

spectively of two inverted funnel: shaped conduits: The upper end of theconduit 25 is in communication with the discharge ofa blower 28', thesuction side of which communicates with a" chamber 30 formed'between; anenclosing housmg 3-1 and the conduit 29'. The duct 15 discharges intothe lower end of the chamber 39 to form a return for the air forres-circulation. An inlet 32 is provided to the chamber as and hasavalve 33 therein for controlling the fresh air supply. The blower 28 isdriven by a suitable electric motor 34 mounted in proper axial rela--tion.

Inorder to diffuse and distributethe air on its Way to the heating coils24 adistributor plate- 35 is mounted transverselyacross the conduit 2'6a'djacent'to the discharge-from theblower, and isprovided with airpassages 35'; preferably laterally spaced apart to form a central bafflesuitably spaced therefrom, in parallel relation,

there is a perforated distributor'plate' 31 through which the airpassesto enter aportion' of the con-- duit 26 definedby'a transverselydisposed diffuser screen 38, located above and suitably spaced Thebottom of the casing i2 isformed with two lengthwise arrangedv outlets2i heretofore in. use. By reasonof the continuous feeding" of, hosierythe production of; the finished hosiery is about double present daymethods, while unskilled help can replace the usual skilled help. Sincethe stockings during the drying operation are: handled in bundle forminstead of individually, the necessity of pulling the stockings ontoforms individually is eliminated so that no drying forms are required.Consequently,

1 there isno cleaning of forms to get rid of finishing compounds; whichmeans no supervision is required for this operation. Also, approximatelyfifty." percent: less finishing compounds are refrom thecoils24. Thus;the-air discharged from the blower 28 travels successively: through aseries of conduit portions each successively of increased volumeuntilthe maximum is reached at: the heatingcoil Hi. After this air circulatesthrough thebundle or stack of stockings on the'conveyor',

itleavesby way of the duct i5 to rise in the cham--- ber 3'0 and returnto: the suction side of the:

blower 28. It is preferable to provide; an aper tured baiile 4'0 in thereturn.

' Since the-conduit 21 is a duplicate ofthe con duit 26, it will notbespecifically" described, but generally includes a blower 41 at theupper end of the conduit driven by amotor 42- to discharge air intothesuccession of increased volume conduit portions formed by adistributor plate 43- withpassages i l, perforated platev45; and screen451 The discharged air from; this conduit 21 traverses. the. bundle; of'stockings 1 and; discharges.

quired. because it all remains on the stockings. Furthermore, lessdamage is done to the goods because of less handling and because thestockings are not subjectedtothe possibility of damage from the sidesclinging, to the forms.

Because the drying operation produced bythe present method and apparatusis done inbundles, uniformity in preset foot sizes and lengthof" hosieryand texture'offabric is-produced; whereas in the standard boarding orpost preboarding operation which consists in pulling the damp g stockingover a form made principally of metal,

irregular result is necessarily producedinheel length, overall lengthand texture of the knitted fabric. Also, by the present invention thereis a complete elimination of anyfinger scratches across the wales of theknitted fabric which is usually produced in the boarding" operation. Toapplicants knowledge there is noother method, of drying stockings knownorused" in" the finishing operation of hosiery known as boarding or"pressing, that will produce this uniformity now." obtained by the methodand apparatus of this invention.

We claim: I

A hosiery drying machine, comprising the: combination of a housing, acasingin said housing forming a closed end transverse passage having twoupper spaced air inlets and two l'owerspaced air outlets respectivelyalined with said inlets; saidpassage havinga width to receive a stock'-ing disposed fiat transversely of said passage with the leg portionthereof juxtaposedte thecasing' between said inlets and the weltandffbot'p'or 'tionsrespectively alined with saidinlets; conduits: forairrespectively communicating with sai d' inlets, heating coilsrespectively on said conduits, blower means for delivering; air to."said heating coils; and return": circulation conduitsleading-respectively from said" outl ts to said blower means:

HARRY S. DRUIVL. :E-IUCKJ 'LIEDTKE. JOSEPH, SGHNHTZ, JRZ. ReferencesCited" in the file of this patent 1 UJXFITEID STATES PATENTS NumberName. Date:-

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